Forget about bouncers, I’m in the meet and greet industry

Mar 31 2008 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

Not many managing directors will have been threatened with a knife and a gun, but then Steve Howe is not your typical business executive, as Peter McCusker discovered.

STEVE Howe will be a familiar face to many who have spent a night out in Newcastle over the last 23 years.

At the age of 17 he landed his first job as a doorman and now, despite building his door supervisory and security company into a £5.5m business, he is still often to be found working on the door of the city’s leading nightspots at weekends.

“I love it. I still go out on a Friday and Saturday night and I still enjoy it. I still have a hunger for the job. I enjoy meeting people and I enjoy the banter,” says Howe, 40.

“I go around the venues we look after to make sure that everything is going well.

“I think it’s good that the staff see their managing director out on the doors and I want to ensure they are portraying the right image for the company.”

Howe speaks at great length of an industry which is trying to rid itself of the “bouncer image” into one of customer service, something he describes as a “meet and greet” industry.

He continued: “This industry has changed dramatically. We are not bouncers. We are not thugs. We are not criminals.

“This is now a meet and greet industry. Our door supervisors are trained to have customer service skills.

“All of our door supervisors are now Security Industry Authority accredited and to get to SIA level they have to pay up to £400 to go on a course, and then pay a further £245 to get a licence.

“No one with a criminal conviction can get a licence.

“We interview all of our prospective door supervisors to make sure they are suitable for our business. I believe these changes are now having an impact and that the public image of doormen is now changing.”

This emphasis on the softer side of what can, no doubt, be a challenging job is demonstrated by his own path into the business.

He describes the family difficulties which led to him securing his first door shift at the Studio nightclub in Newcastle.

“My son Daniel had only recently been born and had been diagnosed with Fragile X autism and he needed 24-hour care.

“My wife worked during the day, while I looked after Daniel and I needed to find a job at night. This was the first job I could get which would allow me to do that.”

But Howe soon found he had the skills needed to succeed in this line of work – no doubt helped by his devotion to judo -– such as an ability to mix with and talk to people of all types.

By the time he quit working the doors to start his own business in 2000 he was reputedly the highest paid doorman in Newcastle earning £25 an hour.

Howe has noticed a number of changes over the years on the busy weekend streets.

He says the most challenging situations doormen encounter is when a domestic incident, which started earlier at home, continues in a pub or a club.

Howe says most confrontation occurs when door staff refuse entry to people who are too drunk, are under the influence of drugs or are under-age.

He also claims women are much more trouble than men when a situation boils over and to help diffuse such potentially difficult situations Phoenix has an active policy of recruiting female door staff. During his spell at the nightclubs on Tyneside he has had to help deal with two murders and he has had a gun and a knife pulled on him. But he says he always finds a way to cope.

“You need good communication skills. It’s better to talk your way out of trouble and you need to have a lot of common sense,” he says.

“I have the gift of the gab, and you have to have a lot of confidence.

“The key is to avoid confrontation.

“People like to be treated the way you like to be treated. You have to talk to people the way you like to be talked to.”

This emphasis on people skills is evident in the way Howe views recruitment.

“I am a great believer in people. A business is only as good as the people it employs. If it wasn’t for my staff I wouldn’t have a business.”

After 15 years on the doors Howe was becoming restless and looking for a change of career and he was considering joining the police force.

But his friend and former police sergeant Brian Wilde suggested he set up his own business – and he has not looked back since.

“I thought I’d give it a go and see what happened. I reckoned I could always join the police force afterwards. Eight years down the line and this is where we are.”

Where they are now is quite impressive. With 770 door supervisors to call upon, the business has an annual turnover of £5.5m.

Phoenix Security’s clients include most of Tyneside’s premier hotels, many of its leading bars and clubs, including the national chains JD Wetherspoon, Luminar and Mitchells & Butlers.

And the company is now on the acquisition trail.

Howe said: “We are currently in talks with a company from outside the region.

“This will further increase our profile. The venues we currently operate outside the North East are a result of contracts with the venue’s operators. This will be the first time we have acquired a company from outside the region and this is a strategy we intend to pursue.”

He would not name the company, but said Phoenix was also on the lookout for potential takeover targets in the North East.

On the back of the expansion plans the company hopes to almost double its turnover to £10m by the end of 2009.

Howe added: “We are very good at what we do and we plan to grow our business. There is no reason why we cannot become one of the biggest operators in the UK.”

These developments come months after the company spent a six-figure sum developing Phoenix Eye, a distinct element of the Phoenix brand, which it is in the process of extending across the region.

Phoenix, which has a CCTV control centre at its new Killingworth headquarters, has contracts with businesses including Newcastle Racecourse and Sita for camera surveillance, backed up by mobile patrol support.

Howe believes that one of the best things to happen to the industry in recent years has been the establishment of closer working relations between Police, licensees and the door supervisory industry.

He sits on the Newcastle licensing committee and his proximity to Tyneside’s drinking culture affords him an authoritative and diverse view on binge drinking.

“The drinking culture is no different to what it was 15 years ago. It has not changed; it has always been there,” he says. “It’s just that for some reason it is always on the news now.

“If anything, pub operators are now far more responsible.”

But he admits that there have been some negative consequences as a result of the recent relaxation of licensing regulations and the move towards 24-hour drinking.

“People now come out later. They get cheap supermarket booze and when they come out they are already a bit drunk,” he says, adding that this and increasing levels of drug use has led to increased numbers of fights and scuffles.

“People have changed. There used to be fights and that was it, but now some people want to follow our doormen home. The kids now are more eager to have a fight. Some of them are just out of their head on drugs and drink.”

However, as a 1st dan black belt in Judo, Howe can obviously look after himself and he helps run the Newburn judo club as well as visiting the gym two to three times a week.

Howe says he does it because he like to pass on his knowledge to others in much the same way he does when he visits the venues his company secures at a weekend.

And with the unusual lifestyle come pretty unsociable hours. Most weekends he will not get home until 4am and then he’s up at 8am to play the role of family man with Cheryl and their two children Lewis, six and Georgia, aged two.

And Howe is still completely devoted to Daniel, now aged 23, from his first marriage, who still needs round the clock care.

This devotion to his family, his business and his judo mean he is constantly on the go but he does ensure there are adequate compensations. Known as Mr Holiday by one of his senior staff, last year he visited Portugal, Ibiza, Florida, Dubai and Miami all with his family.

“I take so many holidays because these are really the only times I can spend some quality time with my family,” he says.

After a hard week at work putting in 10-12 hour days most managing directors would have put their feet up over the Easter weekend break.

But not Howe – he spent the holiday in Darlington working on the door at a new venue the business has recently signed up.

“I can’t ask people to do the job if I can’t do it myself,” he says.

There used to be fights and that was it, but now some people want to follow our doormen home.

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Steve Howe CV

Born in 1967

1978-1984: West Denton High School

1985: Worked as a door supervisor becoming head doorman at venues across Newcastle, as well as in Nottingham and Leeds

2000: Started own business as managing director of Phoenix Security UK Ltd

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The Questionnaire

What car do you drive?

Range Rover Sport

What's your favourite restaurant?

Hanahana, Bath Lane, Newcastle

Who or what makes you laugh?

My kids

What's your favourite book?

Michael Palin: Pole to Pole

What's your favourite film?

The Green Mile

What was the last album you bought?

Mike: Life in Cartoon Motion

What's your ideal job, other than your current one?

Being a full-time carer for my handicapped son

If you had a talking parrot, what's the first thing you'd teach it to say?

“Where you putting your keys?” (As I always lose mine!)

What's your greatest fear?

Failure

What's the best piece of business advice you have ever received?

Treat people the way that you wish to be treated, and you are only as good as the staff you employ

Worst business advice?

Never had any – what will be will be

What newspaper do you read, other than The Journal?

I don’t have time!

How much was your first pay packet and what was it for?

£3.75-an-hour as a doorman at Studio Nightclub

How do you keep fit?

Judo, gym and walking the dog

What's your most irritating habit?

Don’t have any!

What's your biggest extravagance?

Tag Heuer and Rolex watches and holidays

Which historical or fictional character do you most identify with/ admire?

Nelson Mandela

And which four famous people would you most like to dine with?

Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Branson, Michael Palin and Princess Diana

How would you like to be remembered?

As a man of my word. What you see is what you get